Jean Frémon


Jean Frémon has been contributing to a trans-genre tendency in contemporary French letters since 1969. The president of the Galerie Lelong by day, and a writer by night, he has published over twenty books in France, including poetry (translated by Lydia Davis et al.), fiction and essays on art. His work has been translated into Spanish, German, Norwegian and Turkish. His poetry has received praise from John Ashbery, Paul Auster and Rosemarie Waldrop.

Some of the artists with whom he has worked the most closely include Antoni Tapies, Donald Judd, Jannis Kounellis, Sean Scully, David Hockney and Louise Bourgeois. In 1985, he commissioned Louise Bourgeois's first European exhibition. Thirty years later, he organised her last, which she curated, at the Maison de Balzac in Paris. Now, Now, Louison is his first book published in the UK. 

Portrait Tales was translated by John Taylor. Now, Now, Louison and Nativity were translated by Cole Swensen.

Related articles and media:
Louise Bourgeois as I Knew Her’, in ‘Notes on Craft’ for Granta.


‘Jean Frémon is a wholly singular artist, a writer who lives in the radiant zone where poetry, philosophy and storytelling meet.’
— Paul Auster

Photograph © Renaud Monfourny 2020

Photograph © Renaud Monfourny 2020